Monday, April 28, 2014

Caden lives for April Fool's day. He asks all year long when that joke day will be. And he's not the only one who loves the holiday...by the time I woke-up that morning, there was shampoo in my toothbrush, garlic in my waffles and seran wrap on every toilet in our house (thank you, Chad).

Unfortunately, I had a sinus cold that day and I really wasn't feeling the April Fool's spirit. I tried to be a good sport, but by the 9th time that Caden brought me a "drink" of vinegar-pepper-lemon juice-garlic powder I had to really stretch to come up with any reaction. It doesn't help that he still doesn't totally get it and thinks splashing a cup of water on me was another fun joke. I did find the energy to take the boys to WalMart and buy flarp. But, as you can imagine, even that grew old for me quickly.

Needless to say, I was ready for Chad to come home. Because even though that meant even more jokes and tricks, at least it wasn't on me. Caden and Bryce spent a good 40 minutes engineering this string contraption in our bathroom and closet. They were so proud of themselves. And it was cute that Caden told me at least 10x not to hold Tessa while walking in my bathroom. I took a video that night of Chad "tripping" in the closet for the boys.

And the best part of all this was that the next morning was April 2nd...364 days until I have get to do it again.

Chad calls every day on his way home from work. Bryce usually wants to talk to him and for the last month, every conversation goes like this: Dad, remember when we rode the big train and saw the motorcycles?

Bryce, Parker, Corbyn

Krue, Canyon, Caden

Meanwhile, at home, Tessa and I had our first ever girl's night together. We made fish tacos, finished an Easter craft and listened to the general women's conference. It was pretty cool to snuggle my own newborn daughter while listening to the historic meeting.

Friday, April 25, 2014

With Tessa joining our family, we now have a middle child. Both Chad and I are middle kids so the three of us have a sort of club going.

Besides Chad, Bryce is usually the first awake. On days Chad has to work, he and Bryce get some QT together. Bryce has a morning routine and he has to stick to it. Milk, bag of cereal, potty, kisses good-bye to dad, certain blankets, the same spot on the couch and maybe some SuperWhy. If something goes amiss--he doesn't hesitate to let you know.

A few weeks ago Chad decided to snap a picture of Bryce every morning for a week to chronicle his bed-head. Even better, though, is capturing Bryce's personality first thing in the morning. As you can see, he is perfecting the stink eye.

I was really nervous about Bryce when a new baby came. Surprisingly, he's done really well. While the novelty of a baby has mostly worn off for Caden, Bryce will still jump and run any time Tessa starts to fuss. He has to hold Tessa right when he lays down for a nap and again when he wakes up. She tolerates it pretty well...for now!

It kills me to think of what he's going to do next year when Caden is at school all day. Anytime he can't find Caden, he wanders around the house calling for his brother. This morning, Caden was actually the first awake. When Bryce woke-up, Caden tried to get Bryce to follow him to practice their monkey play. Bryce stood on the stairs torn...go downstairs for his morning routine or follow his brother? While Caden was saying, "Come on, Bryce!" I said, "Bryce, you can come downstairs if you want." He just couldn't decide. He kept saying, "I don't know!" Finally, his brother and play practice won. (And you should see the play--the ending will have you in tears!)

The thing I love most about Bryce is how he takes care of his mom. When we're watching a movie and eating popcorn, he will remind Caden to save some for me. When we go for family walks, he stops and waits if I fall behind. He will wake me up in the night if he forgets to give me "loves and kisses" before bed.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

When I bought Caden his first set at a garage sale, I didn't know what we were getting into. One boy, two years, and a hundred sets later, I can see why legos make it on The Best Toy List every single year (I made that up).

I know legos are a huge mess, and it does drive me nuts to find them in every room, in every corner, on every surface in my house. BUT Caden and Bryce will spend hours, literally hours!, building ships and bases and securities and robots. Do you know how precious those quiet hours are when you are taking care of a newborn?!

At least 10 times a day I have to "close my eyes" while they place something they have built in front of me. I then give my excited, enthusiastic response and they happily go back to building.

Caden knows his legos like he knows his friends. The other day he left a small little three piece "security" he'd made at my sister's house. He fretted and worried about it until finally she sent him a picture text that it was all right. She said, "How can a boy who has thousands of legos worry about these 3 pieces?"

It's amazing to me how Bryce is learning symmetry from playing legos. Caden used to fix his "ships" if they weren't symmetrical, and so now he's learned to do it on his own. I love that legos foster creativity and imagination, like this morning, when Bryce made an entire family of "Hompy Monsters."

And so even though when I find legos in my shoes or on the van floor, I swear that I am not, definitely not! buying any more legos, you can bet they will be showing up at birthdays and Christmas' for awhile.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Tessa and I love having super heroes around the house to
take care of us every morning.

The transitions to 3 kids has gone surprisingly well. I’ve showered every day since Tessa was born and we have yet to eat cold cereal for dinner.

Of course there are rough moments. When Tessa was 10 days old, I woke-up one
morning to find Bryce with both ears dripping fluid. Double ear infection which had ruptured. Ugh.
After all morning at the doctor (because I begged them to let me do
Tessa’s 2 week apt even though it was early—I didn’t want to drag 3 kids back in
a few days later!), we got home just in time for me to fix Caden lunch before
school while holding a screaming baby who needed to eat. Poor Bryce just laid on the couch. I felt terrible that a double ear infection
still didn’t move him up the priority list at all.

I feel like all day long, someone needs something. Someone needs to eat, to get dressed, to have
their teeth brushed, to go to school, to take a nap, to go to time-out, to have
a love, to pick up their mess, to get their shoes on, to find a lost lego...it
never ends. To say we are happy to see
Chad walk in the door every night is a huge understatement. Finally—someone to help me with the need
list!

But I can’t complain.
The boys have been champs at taking care of their new sister. Chad talked them into the name “diaper squad”
and convinced them that it’s fun to take diapers to the trash. They love to hold Tessa and I swear she saves
her biggest smiles for them.

Caden holding Tessa while playing wii so I could make breakfast one morning.